


For death has made me wise and bitter and strong

by Darth_Cannizard



Category: Joyeux Noël | Merry Christmas (2005)
Genre: Gen, World War I
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:47:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21622468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darth_Cannizard/pseuds/Darth_Cannizard
Summary: They meet 4 years after the Christmas Truce.For death has made me wise and bitter and strong;And I am rich in all that I have lost.      Siegfried Sassoon, Memory
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	For death has made me wise and bitter and strong

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xsunny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xsunny/gifts).



> This is the second story I post today. My dear Sunny, this one is for you and I hope to meet some of your expectations, although...it has less whump than I wanted it to have and you wished for. The story sort of transformed on it's own.
> 
> Btw the kiss is of course not a sexual one bc you wanted the story to have no slash. Think about the scenes with Jonathan kissing his brother and here's the version with a man showing his admiration and love to another man, who is his friend.

It is October 1918 and, as fate has willed it, it is once again the 93rd Infantry Regiment facing them. Saxons. It is Horstmayer's regiment, recalls Camille Audebert. Horstmayer, who was sent to the Eastern Front as punishment for the Christmas Truce. Horstmayer, whose wife is French. Karl, who was his friend.  
  
Audebert is tired of this war. Deeply exhausted. The only thing that still keeps him every day on his feet and makes him fight in this senseless carnage, is the thought of his wife and his son, who are waiting for him at home.

He survived Verdun. However, his psyche has not emerged unscathed from the battle.  
  
There are rumors that the war could be over in the next few weeks. Is that hope? he asks himself or is there something true about it?  
  
Sometimes his thoughts return to the Christmas Truce of 1914. If the decision had been left to the soldiers, the war would have been over back then. Many of those now dead would not have died.

*

"Do you think they’ll surrender, mon lieutenant?" asks his first officer Anquier. He is the epitome of a poilu - with a bushy mustache, a grim and almost fanatical man. He loves France as much as Audebert does, and that is why his bloodthirstiness and grimness may be forgiven.  
  
"It depends on who their current officer is." It has been obvious for some time that the Germans have reached the end of their strength. Their excellent sniper was torn to pieces by a grenade, they get no supplies of new soldiers, have hardly any ammunition.

*

On the next day it becomes clear, that the Boches have made a decision. An officer steps out of the enemy trench with his hands raised up and slowly moves toward the french position. One of the french soldiers shoots and misses him by hair’s breadth. Audebert can barely keep the rest of his people from killing the German right away. The officer stops in the middle of no-man's-land. The situation is like a piece on a chess board. A move has been made and the reaction of the opponent is now expected.

Audebert sends Anquier to meet him and then observes the exchange of words.  
  
"They surrender," says his soldier upon returning. "He says they almost only have wounded and are too exhausted to keep fighting. He seems to be an honorable man," agrees Anquier with something like an almost reluctant hesitation. "He told me he will not sacrifice the men entrusted to him. That he is responsible for them and would rather be executed by us or come before a court-martial than to continue to watch the misery of his people. "

"Did he say his name?"  
  
Anquier scratches his head. "Lieutenant Horst ... something. I’m not good in memorizing German names. They’re atrocious."  
  
Audebert's heart almost stops beating. So he survived. Thank God Almighty. Camille is not an overly religious person, but he has said many a prayer in the silence of his heart, asking for mercy for Karl and Gordon. He is amazed that his prayers were heard.

And so they face each other again after 4 years. Camille registers all the more or less visible signs the war has left on Karl. "Do I look like him? Drawn? More dead than alive? Dulled?”

They are in the midst of talking about the time between “then” and “now” and the negotiation of surrender as Horstmayer sways and closes his eyes briefly. One or two heavy drops of blood fall down onto the snow at his feet. He touches his left side as if in pain. Camille reacts automatically and caughts him. He cradles his body and allows a slowly fall to the ground of both of them. He shoves Karl’s coat aside and sees with horror an ever-growing stain blossoming on his left side.

"I will not let you die here, Karl," he says, kissing the other man’s forehead and then his mouth. "You are in my care. And you did not survive 4 years of war to end miserable here and now, my beloved friend. I will not let that happen! "

*

The French military hospital makes no difference between caring for friend or foe. After all, death and wounds also don’t make a difference between those two. Horstmayer is taken there as a prisoner of war and he is later transferred to a camp not far from Paris. When the war ends on November 11th 1918, Audebert picks him up and brings him to his house to stay with his wife and son. Karl stays there for a few weeks until he recovers and then returns to Germany.


End file.
